Author: Neil Bennett

Corel Painter 2015 is here – and it’s arrived accompanied by the first ever tablet version of the popular professional digital painting application.

Corel Painter 2015 is an upgrade from Corel Painter X3, and the company says that the new numbering has been chosen as it’s moving to a yearly upgrade cycle.

New in Painter 2015 are improved performance and stability, particle brushes, jitter smoothing and better support for tablet computers – including a new interface and specific support for Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

The Mac version of Corel Painter 2015 is now 64-bit (the previous Windows version was 64-bit), and Corel says that this is the most stable and fastest version of Painter ever. The application is notoriously power-hungry – as it’s attempting to replicate real-world media – and prone to occasional crashes when overloaded – but Corel says that Painter 2015 is on average 40 per cent faster and brushes are up to six times faster.

Artists using Painter 2015 on a tablet computer such as Wacom’s Cintiq Companion or Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 can switch to a stripped back version of the application’s interface that’s designed to be easier to directly painted onto. The Windows upgrade also includes support for the RTS tablet/stylus technology used by the Surface Pro 3 - previously it only supported Wintab, as used by Wacom.

Painter 2015 can be ordered from today and will ship on August 26.

Read on to learn more about Corel Painter 2015’s new features and find out what’s in Corel Painter Mobile.

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Step 1

Corel Painter 2015 is here – and it’s arrived accompanied by the first ever tablet version of the popular professional digital painting application.

Corel Painter 2015 is an upgrade from Corel Painter X3, and the company says that the new numbering has been chosen as it’s moving to a yearly upgrade cycle.

New in Painter 2015 are improved performance and stability, particle brushes, jitter smoothing and better support for tablet computers – including a new interface and specific support for Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

The Mac version of Corel Painter 2015 is now 64-bit (the previous Windows version was 64-bit), and Corel says that this is the most stable and fastest version of Painter ever. The application is notoriously power-hungry – as it’s attempting to replicate real-world media – and prone to occasional crashes when overloaded – but Corel says that Painter 2015 is on average 40 per cent faster and brushes are up to six times faster.

Artists using Painter 2015 on a tablet computer such as Wacom’s Cintiq Companion or Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 can switch to a stripped back version of the application’s interface that’s designed to be easier to directly painted onto. The Windows upgrade also includes support for the RTS tablet/stylus technology used by the Surface Pro 3 - previously it only supported Wintab, as used by Wacom.

Painter 2015 can be ordered from today and will ship on August 26.

Read on to learn more about Corel Painter 2015’s new features and find out what’s in Corel Painter Mobile.

Step 2

Corel Painter 2015's Particle Brushes

Particle brushes produce strokes that distribute particles based on the principles of physics in similar way to particle systems found in animation tools such as After Effects or Maya, producing some unique results for anything from fur to sparklers.

There are three types of particle brushes: Gravity, Flow and Springs. Each is controlled and constrained using your pen and affected by its pressure, tilt or velocity of movement.

Step 3

More of the controls available for Corel Painter 2015's particle brushes.

Step 4

Dark Princess by Don Seegmiller was created using Corel Painter 2015's Particle brushes.

Step 5

Brimstone by Mike Thompson was created using Corel Painter 2015's Particle brushes.

Step 6

L'amour Viendra by Pascal Sibertin was created using Corel Painter 2015's Particle brushes.

Step 7

Corel Painter 2015's Jitter Smoothing

Painter X3 added Universal Jitter to add a level of randomness to how strokes are laid down, making them seem more realistic. Painter 2015 adds Jitter Smoothing to temper this, adding, for example, more natural-looking flow in airbrush strokes or transitions between colours when painting with multiple shades.

Step 8

Corel Painter 2015's Brush Tracking

The Brush Tracking utlity allows you to tune Painter 2015 to your own level of strength and pressure level.

Step 9

Corel Painter 2015's real-time effect preview

Artists can now preview effects in real-time on the canvas.

Step 10

Corel Painter Mobile

Corel Painter Mobile is a brand new Android tablet app that's essentially a cut-down version of Corel Painter 2015. It features over 100 brush types and can export works to Corel Painter or Photoshop (as PSD), or produce JPGs or PNGs.

Painter Mobile works on Android tablets running versions 3.0 (Honeycomb) to 4.4 (KitKat). Corel Painter Mobile is available in a limited free version and a full version for £2.99/$4.99.

Corel says that it's "investigating" creating an iPad version, but has no fixed plans on when this would be forthcoming.

Step 11

Lake by Aaron Rutten. Created using Corel Painter 2015.

Step 12

Peacock by Aaron Rutten.

Step 13

Forward Escape by Android Jones.

Step 14

Pretty Poppies by Bettie Grace.

Step 15

Dragon Hunter by Erik Holmen.

Step 16

Broken by Justinas Vitkus.

Step 17

Beach House by Skip Allen. Created using Corel Painter 2015's Particle brushes.